memoir

Happy New Year, Honeyed Quill readers! Thank you for journeying with me through 2015. I was told by friends and mentors throughout the year that my star was rising. I took that to mean I was on the right track in developing myself as a writer and coach. 2015 was fraught with difficult transitions that coupled with growth. I am very satisfied by what I have accomplished and hope to continue growing my writing presence and coaching “brand.” I love supporting individuals as they write through trauma. Coaching is truly

Raising Mothers published a piece I wrote exploring my choices about speaking Arabic in a racially charged society. I wrote this piece because it crunches my heart. It’s publication came in time with an Islamophobic attack on a friend of mine right here in my town which is to say, it may seem like things have calmed down when it comes to open-faced aggression against Muslims and Arabs. It hasn’t. It has just slid under the cover of normalcy. I hope you’ll head over and read the rest of my story. Maybe

As #LinkYourLife grows, I thought I would take the time to do a roundup of posts shared. This week was a small group of powerful writers. I hope you enjoy these pieces if you missed them. @JennBerney shared her story of how asking for sperm can be awkward. @ShareenM would have died on the bathroom floor if her estranged sister hadn’t saved her life. @KimGANEPossible logged the journey she and her husband travelled to reach their taco truck dream. @Ruebi_LHB shared “The frustrations of the Migraineur,” an examination of life with migraines. @allisonmaruska wrote

I created a hashtag on Twubs called #LinkYourLife. You can join the Twub here, or employ the tag on Twitter. Use it to share work or moments that best capture who you are. I want to know who you are. Let’s meet up every Friday to link our lives, share each other’s work, and form more lasting social media connections. Online connections can be glancing. Let’s get personal. What you should link: Who you are, what you do, and a piece of work that you feel best represents you (blog, publication, poem, story, etc.). Work

Update: Online signup is now open. Click here. I’m excited to share my finalized course schedule for April and May. I will be offering a session of Writing through Trauma for women only, as well as two new classes, designed based on interest and request. Please contact me with any questions. And please share! Writing through Trauma for WOMEN ONLY Dates: 6 Mondays from April 13-May 18, 2015 Time: 6:30-8:30 PM Location: Unity of Bloomington Cost: $80 Instructor: Shawna Ayoub Ainslie This class will be a supportive space for adult

My father, throughout my life, has clung to small food rituals. Here is how you spread the labneh on the pocket bread. Here is how you open the pocket bread. Now the olives. Now the tomatoes. Now the salt and pepper. Here, now. Here. This is how you drizzle the oil. Then we roll it. Then we eat it and, ahhh. Call me Baba, he would tell me when I called him Dad. It was not a food ritual, but he asked more than once. It feels weird, I would tell

My father’s father, “Jido” to me, was a man of integrity and great character. When he is remembered, it is with love and admiration. He lived with my family in the United States for a time. We were in Oklahoma. I was three and four, and my younger sister was just born. Jido along with my father’s mother, Tayta, and my aunt Ghada, were layers in our household. Perhaps it is rare, but I wonder if this is not true for everyone: I had a person in my life who

Shawna Ayoub Ainslie

Shawna Ayoub Ainslie is a coach, writer and creator of online safe spaces for artists engaging issues of survivorship and social justice. The Honeyed Quill is her writing home. Find her here or facilitating #LinkYourLife every Friday on Twitter, and #LinkYourLife Connection, an artist support forum on Facebook.